Category: News

Written by the NCPG Prevention Committee, the report looks at how operators, higher learning institutions and state governments can help mitigate against potential problem gambling issues among young adults.

The report states that young adults are especially vulnerable to gambling-related problems, citing a 2016 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) study that found 55% of male student athletes had gambled in the past year.

The same survey showed that among student-athletes who had ever gambled for money, 88% of men and 69% of women had their first betting experience before going to college.

A separate study published in 2019 suggested college student athletes have greater risk for gambling problems than the general college population, due to being highly competitive, experiencing higher rates of anxiety and other mental health issues, and experiencing higher rates of substance use.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The deal represents GeoComply’s first commitment of institutional capital, which will aid with the company’s growth moving forward. The supplier did not reveal the size of the investment.

“Our mission at GeoComply is to empower the future of Digital Trust, and with Blackstone and Atairos as investors, we are taking a material leap forward to make it a reality,” said GeoComply founder and chairman Anna Sainsbury.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

With this contribution, Great Hill Partners’ Nick Cayer and Matt Vettel will join Centana Growth Partners and Millennium Technology Value Partners as members of Jumio’s Board of Directors.

The investment will allow Jumio to direct resources to its identity verification automation solutions, expand the Jumio KYX Platform and grow its suite of AML compliance services.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Lotto-style sports games, fixed odds lottery, real-money jackpot games, social casino sports, and virtual currency games are all expected to be live by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

The rebrand, which will see the company change its name to Chalkine, is part of the supplier’s strategy to consolidate its place in an emerging North American market – an area where it has been establishing itself since 2019. 

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The deal will grant Superbet exclusive access to Spribe titles, including the popular Aviator series.

Superbet’s live casino and gaming content manager Nicholas Yu said: “Aviator has blown us away with how is has performed, becoming one of our most popular titles in a very short space of time. It shows there is tremendous appetite for innovative content that offers different game formats.

“Congratulations to the Spribe team for developing such an incredible game, and we look forward to working more closely together over the coming months.”

Spribe managing partner David Natroshvili added that early data suggested the game would be a major success.

“We are thrilled to see Aviator land in the Superbet game lobby,” Natroshvili said.

“It has already surpassed all performance expectations and the data suggests it will only become more popular as players become familiar with the game.”

Spribe’s entry into Romania marks the latest stage of its European expansion.

The supplier recently obtained licenses for both Malta and the UK as it continues to grow.

Natroshvili continued: “As we continue to expand in regulated markets across Europe we are keen to enter exclusivity deals with the biggest operators and brands in each market, allowing them to offer their players never seen before content ahead of their rivals.”

Agreed in January, the all-stock acquisition makes Bally’s only the third sports betting operator in the US to have a fantasy sports segment.

The original agreement stated Monkey Knife Fight would receive immediately exercisable penny warrants to purchase approximately $50m in Bally’s common shares at closing.

The DFS brand would also receive contingent penny warrants to purchase up to approximately $20m in additional shares on the first and second anniversaries of the deal closing, for a possible total of up to $40m.

Monkey Knife Fight has approximately 200,000 registered users and 90,000 depositing players, with a presence in 37 US states, Washinton DC and also in Canada.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

From 26 March, Crown Melbourne will be able to operate at 75% of its maximum capacity, with one customer permitted every two square metres.

The facility will also no longer be required to deactivate every second electronic gaming machine and electronic table game, meaning more gaming amenities will be available to customers.

However, other physical distancing and hygiene protocols will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Victoria has been by far the most-affected state by Covid-19 in Australia, with a total of 20,483 cases and 820 deaths.

However, the state has not recorded a new case of Covid-19 since 8 March, while there are currently no known active cases of the virus in the state.

New of the relaxation of measures comes after it was confirmed yesterday (22 March) that private equity group Blackstone Group had put forward an offer of AUS$8.02bn (£4.47bn/€5.18bn/US$6.17bn) to acquire the remaining shares in Crown.

Blackstone offered Aus$11.85 for each share in Crown, for the 90.1% of shares it does not currently own. It already holds a 9.99% stake.

Crown said it is yet to fully review the proposal and has launched an assessment of the offer, during which it will engage with relevant stakeholders, including regulatory authorities.

In January, Element and Allied reached an agreement on an offer worth $78.3m for WPT, but earlier this month, Allied revealed Bally’s had submitted a proposal to buy the business for $100m in cash, stock or both.

The Bally’s offer would have seen the previous agreement with Element terminated if it was accepted.

In response, Element has lodged a new proposal, which would see it pay $90.5m up front for the WPT business and Allied’s other poker assets.

The latest offer includes a clause whereby if Allied were to accept a competing acquisition offer, or conclude the sale of the business to another party within 12 months of agreeing terms with Element, it would need to pay a termination fee of $3.5m.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

The KSA said it expects to receive around 40 licence applications, many of which will come from international operators, when the Remote Gambling Act comes into effect on 1 April.

The regulator has stated this in its annual report 2020, alongside key requirements for licence holders, and the additional powers granted to the KSA to tackle illegal gambling activities.

The report reaffimed the importance for operators to abide by the parts of the Remote Gambling Act concerning addiction prevention and consumer protection.

Notably, all operators must check players against the ‘Cruks’ self-exclusion database, as well as providing the Control Database (CDB) with their own data captured from games, allowing the KSA to carry out remote monitoring of game systems.

Cruks and the CDB went into construction in 2020, with follow-up actions still required in the early months of 2021 to make the systems operational.

After a tender process in 2020, IT and business consultancy Netcompany has taken on management of the systems.

An extension of the gambling levy will also be used to set up an Addiction Prevention Fund, with proceeds being used to provide anonymous treatment of gambling addiction, and research prevention and treatment.

The KSA also revealed in the report that it made €8.2m in gambling taxes in 2020, up 12.3% plus €644,000 from fees, down 41.5%.

The report also mentioned licensing data for slot arcades, where the KSa granted 43 permits in 2020 and denied nine. A further 10 applications were withdrawn while seven applications were apporved after changes were implemented.

The regulator added that there was a decrease in online gambling web traffic throughout 2020, which it said was due to sports cancellations.

The Remote Gambling Act was originally supposed to come into effect on 1 July 2020, but has been delayed three times.

The ANJ, under the instruction of Harris Interactive, surveyed a sample of 3,013 individuals who had gambled at least once during 2020.

The survey found that 75% of players who placed bets in 2020 did so during the second lockdown.

The results also revealed that 6% of players reported feeling overwhelmed by their amount of play from the start of the second lockdown, and 70% of these players reported feeling worried about experiencing financial difficulties in the near future as a result.

Casino players and new players were more likely than average to report feeling overwhelmed.

However, 43% of these players said they did not plan on seeking professional help, while 35% plan to continue playing just as much or more.

The majority of respondents, 54%, said they gambled a similar amount during the lockdown as they did before. 11% said they gambled more during the lockdown and 34% said they gambled less.

When asked what caused players to continue to play during the second lockdown, 57% of those surveyed said they hoped that they could earn more money, while 43% said that their gambling habits remained the same. Only 4% said that progression in games encouraged them to continue.

34% of those who claimed to have not played during the second lockdown said that they wanted to avoid spending money on the games.

French online revenue hit a record high in 2020, with the market bringing in €1.74bn.

France also introduced new plans for player protection requirements in January 2021.